Mario Kart Wii
Mario Kart Wii is a multiplayer-oriented racing game for the Wii console, developed by Nintendo EAD. It is the sixth installment in the main Mario Kart series and the eighth overall. Mario Kart Wii retains the traditional item-based weaponry familiar with the franchise, where players can select a Mario franchise driver and themed vehicles. As with most racing games, the overarching goal is to place first among other competitors, through the usage of such items and taking the fastest routes to secure the leads. Several new key elements introduced to Mario Kart Wii include increasing the number of racers to 12 racers from 8 racers from previous entries in the series, as well as introducing a new type of vehicle to the franchise: bikes. The game takes advantage of features unique to the Wii, most notably its motion control capabilities. A Wii Wheel is included in most Mario Kart Wii packages, though the game is still compatible with other controllers such as a regular Wii Remote held sideways, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the Nintendo GameCube controller, and the Classic Controller and Classic Controller Pro. Game modes are also present such as the traditional Grand Prix, Versus, Battle, and Time Trial modes, many of them made use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection before its discontinuation for worldwide online play. This game requires 23 blocks of storage on the player's Wii system to save game data. Also, the game data cannot be copied onto another Wii. The game also includes its own Wii Channel, called the Mario Kart Channel, which allows players to play in special tournaments and trade their racing profile with other players around the world. This channel uses 74 to 88 blocks (depending on the game's region), but unlike the game data, players can copy the channel onto their SD cards. With over 36 million copies of the game sold, Mario Kart Wii is the second best-selling Wii game (after Wii Sports) and the best-selling Mario game for the Wii console. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was terminated by Nintendo starting on May 20th, 2014, therefore making it no longer available to play Mario Kart Wii (as well as Mario Kart DS and other games that support WFC) online. Gameplay Mario Kart Wii retains most of the elements from previous Mario Kart games, especially Mario Kart DS. Players select a racer from a cast of Mario characters, who are all divided into size categories in relation to their stats, and they need to select a vehicle from the class they belong in, all with their own stats. All races start with players at a line corresponding to their proper position, where Lakitu signals the countdown time. Once the time is finished, players race three laps around a race course in an attempt to be first of the pack. Once the third lap is completed, players are ranked points depending on how well they placed in the race. While every previous Mario Kart game allowed for a maximum of eight racers on each course, up to twelve are on the course at a time in Mario Kart Wii. In Grand Prix and VS mode, player characters always start out on the latter positions; once they finish the race, their position is saved as they move on to the next race. Integral to the Mario Kart series is the usage of Mario-themed items to use as weapons against other racers in the track, either directly benefiting the player or hurting another player's progress. Players can receive these items at random from Item Boxes scattered around the track. The quality of the item received depends on the position of the racer: racers who are further down the line receive stronger items to help compensate their poorer performances. For examples, lower racers receive Mushrooms as speed boosts, Stars for faster invincibility, etc. while higher-placed racers receive weak items such as Green Shells and Banana Peels. When players receive an item, they can stop the item roulette faster by pressing the corresponding item button. Several advanced techniques are retained in Mario Kart Wii from prior Mario Kart titles, although several tweaks have been made to them. Players can drift through tougher curves to maintain speed; players can perform a Mini-Turbo when players receive color-coded sparks from drifting, which depends on how long players can hold the button for drifting and the angle at which they drift. Introduced in Mario Kart Wii are two drift modes: Automatic and Manual. Automatic drifting allows players to automatically drift when turning very sharply, though players cannot perform Mini-Turbos regardless of how well they drift. Manual mode requires players hold down a button to drift, but releasing the button may release a Mini-Turbo, the strength of it depending on the color of the sparks. Players are now able to perform tricks when they driver over specific types of ramps. When drivers perform a trick and land successfully, they gain a momentary boost of speed. Tricks consist of mid-air acrobatics and are performed by shaking the Wii Wheel upward, shaking the Wii Remote in the Wii Remote + Nunchuk combo, pressing the +Control Pad on the Classic Controller, or pressing the +Control Pad on the GameCube controller. Motorbikes are introduced in this game, alongside having a wider variety of karts to select from. Motorbikes can perform wheelies to increase top speed on straights, though motorbikes cannot perform the most powerful Mini-Turbo that karts can. Motorbikes also come in two classes: inside-drifting and outside-drifting. Inside-drifting bikes have a significantly sharper drift while outside-drifting bikes function similarly to the kart-counterpart of drifting. Prior to discontinuation of online services, Mario Kart Wii featured a text chat in Online Multiplayer Mode when racing or battling against Friends. Users can send pre-written phrases to other users before the series of races starts. However, there is no facility for a user to type custom messages. File Formats * .wav (Sound) * .cpk (File package) * .dat (Model/Texture package) * .sfd (Movie) Media For a complete list of media for this subject, see List of Mario Kart Wii Media Videos Mario Kart Wii / Videos Voice Sounds Mario Kart Wii / Voice Sound Category:Mario Category:Mario Games